Field
Aspects of the present invention generally relate to an image forming apparatus, a method for controlling an image forming apparatus, and a storage medium.
Description of the Related Art
In recent years, there has been a type of image forming apparatuses that can change at arbitrary timing a print setting of a print job input from a personal computer, a scanner, etc. Further, according to the worldwide ecology concerns, there is an image forming apparatus in which when a print job reserved in the image forming apparatus is to be output, a system determines settings of the print job and displays as a warning a setting of the print job that there is room for print cost reduction.
Meanwhile, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-218282 discusses a technique with which input, edit, and output settings of an image forming apparatus are automatically or manually changed to settings that lead to print cost reduction (e.g., N in 1, two-sided, monochrome). To change a parameter, a preregistered setting value that leads to print cost reduction is applied.
The print settings employed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-218282 are fixed settings that are registered in advance. Thus, it is not possible to change the print settings according to a job, and in some cases, the print settings may be changed to print settings that may lead to higher cost. For example, a job that is already set to cost-reducing print settings (e.g., 4 in 1, monochrome) may be changed to preregistered print settings such as 2 in 1 or color that do not lead to cost reduction.
Furthermore, according to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-218282, a system forcibly changes settings of a job to predetermined settings. Thus, it is not possible to print using settings that do not lead to cost reduction. For example, in a case of printing a contract document or the like, although a template output such as 1 in 1 and one-sided is necessary, since the print settings are automatically changed to print settings such as 2 in 1 or two-sided, it is not possible to print using settings desired by the user.